


3 times Mr and Mrs Pevensie were suprised by their children

by AgeOfMiracles



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 07:50:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeOfMiracles/pseuds/AgeOfMiracles
Summary: Waiting for her children at the train station was probably one of the happiest and saddest moments of Helen Pevensie’s life. War was a dangerous thing. Families and lives were torn apart. People changed forever.





	1. Chapter 1

1  
Waiting for her children at the train station was probably one of the happiest and saddest moments of Helen Pevensie’s life. She had been forced to send her own children away for safety. Wars were dangerous things. Families and lives were torn apart. People were starving and poor, forced to grow up too fast. Helen couldn’t wait to see her beloved children again but it had been so long. They hadn’t wanted to leave, she could see that plain as day. 

She wondered if Lucy was scared, if Edmund would let her hug him, if Peter had grown up too much because she asked him to look after his brother and sisters. And Susan, her dearest Susan, trying so hard to be brave. Helen knew Peter and Susan would look after the other two but they both lacked the patience and kindness. Susan was too bossy; her protective instincts came out as harsh rather than caring. Peter, on the other hand, tried too hard to be grown up and act like a father. And Helen thought that was the most likely reason why Edmund and he clashed so much. She wondered if they had grown closer. Helen watch the train pull in and the women rush forward eagerly. Some were crying already, some were smiling happily, some were running to grab their children as they hastily exited their carriages. Helen pushed her way through the crowd of laughing mothers and children searching for her four darlings. There were cries of joy all around her and Helen suddenly felt very alone.  


She stopped as she saw Susan and Lucy exiting the train. Helen held her hand to her mouth. They were really here. 

Susan was turned away from her talking to someone still on the train. Peter, she saw as he stepped out. Helen was about to rush forward when he held his hand out. A small pale hand grabbed the offered hand and Edmund jumped down. Helen Pevensie wasn’t even aware of the tears running down her face at the sight of her beautiful children. Peter pulled Edmund forward and together the four of them stared at the chaotic joy around them, looking out of place almost like they didn’t belong there. Lucy wasn’t smiling. In fact, Helen thought she almost looked like she was going to cry. Susan wrapped an arm around her and whispered in her ear. Lucy straightened and her face immediately lost its sadness. She smiled up at her siblings. Peter stepped back and grabbed a couple of bags. Edmund tried as well but was pushed back and glared at by all of his siblings. Helen held her breath wondering what Edmund would do. It seemed nothing had changed between Edmund and his brother and sisters. To her surprise, Edmund sighed but stepped back. Peter smiled gently and handed him the smallest bag. Even more to her surprise Edmund took it and Peter straightened and grabbed his hand. Susan took Lucy’s hand again and walked as she chatted with Lucy as her brothers strode purposefully behind them. Helen stared. Before they left, Edmund would have never let Peter and his sisters tell him what to do with argument and he certainly would never have held Peter’s hand. But she brushed off her concerns in favour of running to her children.

“Peter! Lucy! My children” The four siblings froze and Helen faltered confused as Susan lifted her arm behind her, Peter went for his belt and shuffled closer to Edmund. Lucy and Edmund tensed and reached for their belts as well. Peter was the first to recover and placed an arm on Susan’s back who relaxed if only a little and took Lucy’s hand off her belt. Edmund and Peter did not relax at all and stepped forward next to their sisters. Helen stopped completely as the four of them stood there. Regal was the first word to come to mind when she looked at them.  
Her darling Lucy was still so small but the way she held herself was well almost royal like and her eyes looked they held the secrets to life.  
Susan, if anything, was even more beautiful. Her features had not changed but she seemed to glow and the way she moved so gracefully.  
Her brave Peter held himself as if he had the world on his shoulders but was strong enough to bear it. Standing tall and stern as he looked around for her she assumed. But the way he looked at his siblings was anything but stern. He looked at them like they were his reason to live with so much love in his gaze. What stumped her was the way he looked Edmund. She knew what that look was. It was the same way she looked at her children when her husband left for war. Still with complete love and adoration but also the guarded look of someone who had come close to losing a loved one and would die before they let that happen again. Helen knew then there was nothing Peter would not do for Edmund. Helen supposed that was her fault. She asked too much when she told him to look after his siblings and now he had grown up too fast.  


And Edmund, her dear Edmund. He was the most changed. Helen could immediately see he was not the angry little boy he once was. The way he leaned into Peter for reassurance who sighed and some of the tension bled out of his posture but still clung to his little brother. Edmund rolled his eyes but smiled. He had grown up Helen thought. He smiled lovingly at his sisters and Helen knew he and Peter would protect them, together. 

Helen uncertainly stepped forward and their gazes immediately snapped to her. She held out her arms for her children. Lucy and Susan stared at her open arms confusedly. Peter eyed her warily and Helen flinched. Had it really been so long that her children no longer recognised her? Lucy maybe but the others were older. No, the way the boys looked at her was distrustful and Helen admitted to herself that hurt the most. Her own children didn’t trust her. Edmund elbowed Peter. Peter sighed but turned to Susan and gestured toward their mother. Susan nodded and leaned down whispering soft words to Lucy. Lucy eyed her before nodding and allowing Susan to pull her forward. Helen brushed off the hurt and reached forward pulling Susan into her arms. Helen frowned when Susan stiffened but hugged her tightly anyway. Gradually, Susan softened and hugged her back.

“Mom” she whispered like the word was new on her tongue.

“Hello my beautiful Susan” Helen held her arm out to Lucy as well who stepped into her at Peter’s nod. Helen would have to talk to him. He no longer needed to be responsible for his brother and sisters.

“Lucy darling, I missed you”

“I missed you too Mom” The word sounded foreign from her mouth as well. Susan and Lucy stepped back. Helen smiled at her eldest.

“Peter dear” Peter smiled and kissed her cheek. He still hadn’t let go of his brother.

“Mom” Helen couldn’t tell if the word sounded wrong or if it was just Peter’s stiffness. What on earth had happened to her darling children in the country? To her surprise, Edmund stepped forward without prompting and hugged her tightly.

“I missed you so much Mom” Edmund said it without Peter’s stiffness but the word still sounded so strange. She didn’t know what was wrong with her that her own children saying mom felt wrong. When Helen let go of her little boy Peter immediately pulled him back to his side. Edmund went willingly. Maybe they needed to see home.

“How about we go home?” She didn’t understand why Lucy teared up and Edmund flinched slightly or why Susan immediately hugged her sister and Peter glared at her before turning to Edmund. Lucy was whispering to Susan and Edmund had buried his face in Peter’s chest. Helen didn’t understand anything. Not why her children didn’t recognise her or why Peter still eyed her warily or why the word home, made Lucy cry. She didn’t understand what had happened in the country. A shaft of sunlight stretched down towards them and Helen barely held her gasp. Her four children were standing in front of her but they weren’t children anymore. They were fine clothes with swords at their sides and crowns on their head.

“Mom?” The vision disappeared and her children were back. Helen blinked. Four pairs of eyes stared back at her.

“Let’s go, shall we?” The four grabbed their bags, Peter still snatched the bags that Edmund tried to pick up. Helen couldn’t shake the feeling that her children weren’t children anymore much less hers. They were suddenly grown up and when the sun lit up the station, her children glowed.

 

2  
The rain drowned the empty streets of Finchley and Helen Pevensie awoke to quiet unidentifiable whispers and thumps downstairs. Her first thought was someone was in her house. Maybe her husband was home early? She slipped out of bed and grabbed her robe, the cold was seeping through her thin nightdress. She softly padded over to the door and opened it slowly to not disturb her sleeping children. Helen made her way down the hall to the stairs. The whispers were louder now, enough for Helen to make out the words.

“Buck up girls, we don’t have a lot of time” Helen frowned. What was Peter doing at this time of night? Susan and Lucy were up as well by the sounds of it.

“Hold on. I just need my- Ah! There it is!” Lucy exclaimed. 

“Hush Lu!” Edmund hissed, “You’ll wake mother” Helen headed down the stairs to ask her children what they were doing so late. She ignored the nagging feeling that they weren’t really her children. Oh, they still loved her but her title had changed from mom to mother and when they used to go to her when they were sad or hurt wanted something, they now went to Peter. Susan too. Something happened in the country. They had become a unit, one that didn’t include her.

“Are you three done yet?” Peter asked.

“Relax Peter, it’s still raining” Susan soothed gently. Helen stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Still raining? What were they doing?

“For Aslan’s sake Pete, stop frowning. This is supposed to be fun” Edmund exclaimed. Peter sighed.

“Right sorry, let’s go girls” Helen followed behind her children pushing away the guilt. This wasn’t a question of trust because she trusted her children wholeheartedly. They didn’t go far. They stopped at the bottom of the garden. Helen watched them through the kitchen window. It was pouring outside. It was early enough in the morning that no one was up but there was still a little light. Helen stared as her children stared at each other before smiled and lying down on the soaked grass. What were they thinking? They were going to get sick. Helen quickly grabbed her boots and ran outside. She made it halfway down the path when their conversation stopped her. The four of them were still lying there, only now they were holding hands and laughing. Lucy sighed.

“Do you remember back home when it was raining?” Home? Wasn’t this there home?

“You know I never did think of raining in Narnia as rain. It seems much too simple for that” Edmund added. Susan bobbed her head in agreement and spoke with longing.

“It was like the sky was spitting apart except there was no lightning, or thunder and it was never dark. There was lots of rain but it was almost like the sun was still out.”

“It was lovely. The way the fauns and trees danced and the dryads laughing and playing under the cover of the trees. It was magical” Lucy smiled sadly as she finished. “I miss it so much it hurts.” Peter squeezed her hand.

“We all do. Be brave my queen” Helen stood there unsure. Her children were lying in the pouring rain in the early morning and she still felt like she was intruding on something special. And their conversation. None of it made sense to her. Fauns, dryads, dancing trees?

“I have faith though” Lucy murmured. Helen stepped forward to hear her. “Aslan would not abandon us, nor would he keep us from our home”

“It’s a long time, though isn’t it?” Edmund broke in. Peter smiled and wrapped his arm around his younger brother who in turned pulled Susan closer.

“Yes, it is. But we will get there my brother” Edmund smiled back at his brother and moved his head so it was resting on Peter’s chest. Lucy moved closer so her legs were tangled with Susan’s and her head in the crook of Edmund’s arm.

“So, says the High King” Edmund teased, Susan and Lucy giggling with him.

“So, he says, my gentle and valiant queens and my just king” 

“Do you think, he’s watching over us right now?” Susan asked so timidly that Helen almost forgot she had changed since she went to the Professor’s.

“I’m sure of it” Peter said firmly.

“How do you know?” Lucy answered this time.

“Because he loves us as much as we love him, doesn’t he?”

“When Aslan bares his teeth, winter meets its death” Edmund said softly.

“And when he shakes his mane we shall have spring again” Susan finished. Lucy sniffled, her eyes wet and teary. Helen frowned. Whoever this Aslan was, he was obviously very dear to them all. They spoke his name with such reverent tones, not just loving but also like they were in awe of him.

“Cheer up Lu” Peter said, rubbing her back. “Don’t forget tomorrow Father’s coming home and perhaps we can go for a picnic near the sea. It won’t be quite like home but we can make do if we can convince mother and father to let us go.”

“I’m sure they won’t have any objections to us spending time together. They will probably want to come so we can spend some time as a family.” Susan stood up. “Come on, let’s go inside, we will need our sleep to greet father tomorrow. The rain has almost stopped anyway” The children sighed but followed their sister. Helen rushed back up to the house and up the stairs, closing her bedroom door just as she heard her children quietly walk up the creaking staircase. Peter bid the girls goodnight with a kiss on the cheek as he and Edmund dragged their sopping wet selves to their bedroom. Helen briefly wondered why they referred to each other as kings and queens but she was asleep before she could ponder over it. No one, not even the four children heard a roar that seemed to echo throughout the early morning sky.

 

3  
Mr Pevensie didn’t feel young. Dear god, he went to war. He watched men and boys die, he nearly died himself many times. The thought of his beautiful wife and children was the only light in the bleakness of the war. After, seeing what he saw, he felt too old sometimes. But coming home, as great as it was to see his family again, his children had changed. Helen, had mentioned it in her letters but he dismissed her concerns. This was a war, it changes everyone. Even children. But his four sweet kids had changed in a way he never expected. They weren’t innocent or naive. They exuded a confidence and knowing air. Their eyes were solemn but still sparkled whenever they secretly whispered to one another. Their eyes were full of knowledge and the way they acted… Mr Pevensie hated to say it but he felt intimidated sometimes by his own children. When he knocked on the door of his home for the first time in years, it was a feeling he couldn’t describe. He heard footsteps before the door opened to reveal Edmund. Mr Pevensie smiled widely but Edmund frowned.

“Can I help you?” he asked politely. Mr Pevensie faltered. His son didn’t remember him.

“Edmund” he started, “it’s me, son.” Edmund frowned before lighting up in recognition. 

“Dad!” Two more sets of footsteps and another two heads appeared. Lucy and Susan.

“Hello girls” Susan and Lucy grinned.

“John!” Helen’s voice came from inside. The door opened fully and his wife leapt into his arms. Mr Pevensie hugged his wife tight.

“God, I missed you” Helen pulled him inside and shut the door.

“Come on, Peter just put the kettle on” His children trailed after their mother and he eagerly followed. They traipsed into the kitchen and Mr Pevensie laid eyes on his eldest. By jove, he had grown so much. Helen placed cups on the table as Peter turned with the kettle in hand. Mr Pevensie smiled.

“Son” Peter stared.

“Hello” he said stiffly, “Welcome back” Mr Pevensie frowned at his son’s formality but shrugged it off. He grabbed little Lucy’s hands and pulled her onto his lap when he sat down. Lucy hugged him but slid away almost immediately and pulled out her own chair. Helen saw his confused look and shook her head. Edmund sat in between Susan and Lucy and Peter sat on Lucy’s other side. Mr Pevensie picked up his tea in the ensuing silence. 

“I’ve missed you all” he said when it became obvious his children were not going to speak. “How have you been? You mother told me about your trip to the country, how was that?” He didn’t understand Lucy and Susan drooped with sadness, Edmund looked down and fiddled with his cup and Peter stiffened and practically glared at him. Mr Pevensie opened his mouth to reprimand his son when Peter spoke. 

“Well, we’re glad you home but it’s getting late. Edmund is not a morning person and Lucy doesn’t go to sleep if she stays up too late.” Peter said this with a tone that dared him to speak. Mr Pevensie did nothing but nod, baffled. He watched as his eldest ushered the three younger upstairs. They all murmured goodnight as they passed. John turned to his wife.

“What was that?” Helen sighed.

“That was what I was saying in my letters. Something happened in the country. They changed. I cannot get a word out of them about it. The professor they were staying with didn’t help much either. He just said that the country changes people. Which was very evasive I thought” Helen leaned into him. “Is this out fault? They don’t talk to me anymore. Edmund has become much more loving but he doesn’t talk either. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Peter had become their guardian.”

“What do you mean?” Helen cried a little.

“Lucy had a nightmare a few weeks ago, she was screaming in a language I didn’t recognise. I’m not even sure it was a real language. Susan was holding her when I came in. She wouldn’t stop, no matter what I did. Peter ran in and pushed me out the way and started stroking her hair and whispering to her in the same language. She stopped immediately and hugged him tightly.” John held his wife as she cried into his shoulder.

“I was no help to her at all. I was so scared.” Mr Pevensie just comforted her. He didn’t understand his children either.

A yell roused him in the early morning. He heard the rustling of sheets and loud footsteps through the closed door. Helen sat up. 

“Peter” she said. Mr Pevensie quickly jumped up, ready to comfort his son but Helen grabbed his arm. She shook her head and pulled him quietly out of their bedroom. They padded down the hall to the boy’s bedroom. Susan was sitting on the end of the bed, holding one of Peter’s hands. Lucy was cuddled into her side, tightly gripping her brother’s shirt and Edmund was lying next to Peter, holding his other hand. Peter had his head on Edmund’s chest and was breathing harshly.

“By Aslan Ed, it was horrible. The worst moment of my life.”

“Shh” Edmund whispered. “I’m fine now, I promise.” Mr Pevensie was confused. Had something happened to Edmund while he was away? What could be so bad that Peter had nightmares? Why did his sweet little Lucy wake up screaming?

“We’re all fine Peter” Susan added gently. “We know you won’t let anything hurt us.” Peter sighed and closed his eyes. Susan lay down and pulled Lucy down as well, resting their heads on Peter’s legs. Edmund slid down the bed a little, careful not to dislodge his siblings and closed his eyes as well. Mr Pevensie felt strange. They made the perfect picture. But there was no room for Helen or him. His wife smiled sadly and pulled him back to their room. His children didn’t need him anymore but maybe that was okay. They would always have each other.

4  
Helen wasn’t surprised by her children anymore. When they giggled, and whispered to one another but went quiet whenever she walked into the room. How they seemed to know what her husband had been through and tried to comfort him whenever he would let them. They way Peter and Susan would be red with anger when spoken down to like the children they were or the way Lucy flushed scarlet and marched away when Helen forbade her from making tea because she was too young to do such things. Walking in out her children laughing gaily, foreign words trickling from their mouths like a fresh spring, normal. The words they spoke, Helen thought. It was like no language she had ever heard. It was musical like a bird’s song, but crackled liked thunder when her children spoke in anger. There was one name she constantly heard, Aslan. The way they said that name, with reverence and adoration. It sounded, though impossible, like a rainbow and the deep baritone of a jazz singer. They spoke that word like it was the very air they breathe. When she spoke of this to her husband, he was not surprised either anymore. They spent too many nights in their bed wondering where the years had gone, when their beautiful children still needed their parent’s reassurance and protection. Those years had passed.


	2. Chapter 2

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more. When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death and when he shakes his mane we shall have Spring again.


End file.
